J.Cole & Nas Cover Vibe's 20th Anniversary Issue

When you first heard J. Cole, did you understand the comparisons that people were making?
NAS: I didn’t look at it like that. I wanted to make my own opinion. I was like, let’s hear what he’s saying. He’s his own man, and I listened to it from that point of view. I wasn’t looking for me in him. I been inspired by tons of people; he’s been inspired by tons of people. When we do what we do, we sound like us. To me, Cole sounds like Cole. There can be some things I listen to and I wonder if I inspired that or if it’s something I would’ve thought of or would’ve tried to rhyme or whatever, but that’s him. That’s a great compliment that there’s someone who likes what I do—because this dude is nice, so you’re bigging me up.
J. COLE: Shit, it’s like of course you’re gonna see hints because that shit in my DNA. I studied him so much, it’s always gonna spill out some way. But it’s a lotta niggas in my DNA, just like there’s a lot in him. You see Kobe do a fade-away and you be like, “Okay, that’s Jordan.” There’s hints of everybody in these guys’ game, but what makes me my own man, what makes him his own man is that we develop. You gravitate towards what you like. I studied Eminem; he wasn’t studying Eminem. He was studying niggas that Eminem was studying, so he already had his DNA settled. Of course you gon’ hear lines—I write like, “Damn my nigga Nas would’ve been proud of this shit, with the rhyme schemes.”

Is hip-hop lyricism experiencing a renaissance now? What’s the state of the genre?
J. COLE: It’s heading into another golden era. It might not be there just yet, but it’s getting there. Look at the options you got right now. I remember around the time Hip Hop Is Dead was coming out, I knew why you was saying it. Rap was a fucking joke. It was a singles-driven market. But even when I was unsigned, I knew with what I was doing that this was gon’ turn around. I didn’t know at the same time that Kendrick was somewhere studying, going hard. Drake was somewhere studying, going hard. Niggas is getting back to caring about rapping again. And really taking this shit seriously, clowning niggas that’s wack. There’s a real divided line of niggas that can rap and niggas that just can’t. And you can get your money and it’s all good. We still respect you and we gon’ play your song. But when you look at these guys, way different

Hip-hop is obviously a competitive sport, but when is the last time an artist outshined you on a track?
NAS: I’m sure there were enough times I wasn’t the shiniest nigga. It happens. I don’t [feel] every record I do with somebody is a battle. I just do my best. So if you outshine me and it’s a great record because of it, we win.
J. COLE: You always know that’s gonna be a conversation. But you don’t always necessarily give a fuck. Jay-Z did his “Mr. Nice Watch” verse after mine—I didn’t even know he was gonna get on the song. My competitive side was like, “Yo, I wanna change my fucking verse ’cause this nigga just got on here and went crazy.” Timing-wise, I had to turn in my album. [But] he made my song better by going that hard, so it’s cool. I’ll take that one.
NAS: If me and Cole are on a track, they gonna talk about whose verse is the illest. Our boys are gon’ be like, “Yo, you gotta smoke him on that.” That’s what rap is all about. That’s how it should always be.